Shoot and Jab
by djlezah019
Summary: She's a delinquent; there's nothing she couldn't handle.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Chapter 1**

**A/N: Hi! It's my first time writing here though I did write in a couple of other sites before. To celebrate, ehem, the long-awaited newly released season of KuroBasu, I wrote a fanfiction about it. I'm not really sure whom I'll pair my OC though, and I'm not too much into romance. She's not special, no. And she's definitely not into basketball. Despite the fact that my favorite character is Kuroko, I'm still conflicted whether they'll go well together, especially since it is mentioned that Kuroko likes gentle girls. Anyway, I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke or any of its characters. The plot's from a crazy authoress's imagination in an attempt to entertainment and any resemblance to an actual person, place, or whatever is simply coincidence.**

**I bet it would be nice to have a vanilla-milkshake-scented companion though.**

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**CHAPTER I**

A petite girl stared at the large gate of her new school. It looked pristine and appealing with the beauty of winter. Snowflakes danced prettily with the wind before it settled down the paved ground. She wore the sailor uniform and pleated skirt the girls in this school dressed in. Her ebony hair that reached the small of her back has streaks of white strands and it cascaded behind her like a waterfall, contrasting the silvery snow. Her onyx eyes were like an abyss; empty, bottomless, and mysterious.

A small smile cracked her lips. She hoped this time, she wouldn't mess her chance for a great start.

Actually, this is already the third school she transferred with only her first year in high school because of her untamed personality.

She got expelled because she punched a girl in the gut at her first school. Then she found out that the girl she hit was the principal's daughter. She hadn't cared nor regretted it, though. The girl deserved it for spilling juice at her intentionally, although the bitch denied it.

Then she beat up the bullies at her second school for messing up with her. She might have received plenty of injuries but the guys had acquired worse. Their heads had been great planks for her metal bat. She didn't regret it either.

Her family was almost hesitant to send her to school again and just considered homeschooling her so they could limit the violence and damage she tend to cause. They decided to send her here at Seirin instead to be with her older cousin. That way, the multi-personality Hyuga Junpei would be able to at least minimize her habits. She didn't care still, as long as people let her mind her own business.

She's a delinquent. A disgrace to her family, that's why they threw her here.

Maeda Rin made her way to the school building while enjoying the refreshing view of blossomless sakura trees lined at the sides of the pathway. Rin never did like spring; it was way too colorful for her taste.

She was about to round at the corner when she heard a shuffling behind one of the sakura trees. Being someone who claimed to be fearless, she bravely yet cautiously peeked behind the trunk.

Rin was surprised to see a dog curled in a tight ball because of the cold. A very cute dog.

If there's one thing she was fond at, it was animals. Cute animals were her weakness. She's still a girl after all.

"Aww," she cooed at the little creature. It looked at her forlornly with its large cerulean eyes and her heart melted into a puddle of goo. "What are you doing here, little guy? Are you lost?" She reached her arms at the puppy. "Come here. You must be freezing."

The dog gratefully came to her. She scooped it up and hugged it close so she can share her warmth.

She glanced around to see if anyone was looking for a lost puppy but it seemed she was the only one outside because class had already started and anyone wouldn't want to be outside with this weather. What would a dog be doing in a school anyway? Were pets even allowed inside schools?

"Your owner must be worried sick," she muttered while looking at the dog.

She decided to take the puppy with her and find its owner later. She wouldn't mind its company for a while. It might keep her out of trouble.

"Domo."

Rin halted, wide-eyed with shock. "Ahhhhhh!"

A meter and a half away from her stood a boy with powder blue hair and azure eyes, which strangely reminded her of the dog in her arms. He was wearing the standard uniform for boys in Seirin like the one Junpei-nii wore so he must be a student here. But what surprised her most was his lack of presence. She didn't feel it at all, and she swore she didn't see him a while ago. He's practically invisible!

"Sorry," he apologized in a monotone voice. "That dog is mine."

Rin stared at the boy for a while before taking a few steps to close the distance between them. He remained impassive as he watched her poke his shoulder idiotically. Satisfied, Rin stepped back.

"Just making sure you're not a hologram or some kind of a ghost." She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Here," she said as she handed him the shivering little dog. "He's trembling. It's a good thing he didn't freeze to death."

"Thank you," he said though his face remained emotionless, diminishing the gratifying effect of the statement. "I've been looking everywhere for him."

The boy unzipped his blazer, hugged the dog and zipped his uniform again. Rin raised an eyebrow in amusement and curiosity at the action of the teal haired boy. Then she remembered that since he's here, maybe he could make things easier for her.

"Say, you're a student here, aren't you?" she asked.

"Hai." His indifference was quite annoying her at this point.

"Great," she exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. "Could you help me find my class? I'm kind of new here. I'm supposed to be in class 1-B English."

"Hai." He turned around and beckoned her to follow. "This way, uhh—"

"Rin. Maeda Rin," she supplied.

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya and this is Nigou," he said still with the poker face that had been so unnerving to her, while gesturing at the little dog. "Nice to meet you, Maeda-san."

"Likewise."

The walk was uneventful. Rin was so enticed in her surrounding that she sometimes forgot that Kuroko was there in the first place, nevermind that he didn't have much of a presence anyway.

She was continuing her way through the hallway when Kuroko's calm voice snapped her out of her reverie.

"We're here." He was standing in front of a closed door a few feet behind her. She had forgotten that he was with her and hadn't noticed that he had stopped.

"Kuroko," she started as she looked back at him, venom lacing her irritated voice. "Could you call out to me normally? You almost gave me a heartattack!"

"I did call out to you normally, Maeda-san," he stated flatly.

A vein throbbed at her temple. This emotionless guy was trying the extent of her patience without even perceiving, and it annoyed her even more.

"Whatever." If not for the fact that he helped her find the room she would have strangled him already and left him for dead.

She slowly made her way at the closed door and stood in front of it with Kuroko. She stared at it for a while, believing that the door would unsuspectingly open itself or become transparent so she can peep at what was happening at the other side, but unfortunately, this door didn't have that kind of function.

"Aren't you going inside, Maeda-san?" Kuroko tilted his head to the side, eyes dancing with mild fascination at the girl's pointed look at the obviously closed door.

Said girl almost screamed bloody murder again if not for stopping herself. She overlooked his presence once again. Geez, what's wrong with him?

"I…" she started but can't continue. This was the third school she'd be entering this year. She knew it was her fault but changing schools was hard for her too though she won't say it out loud. She'd always have to make new friends and settle in. It's tiring, so she decided to try and make her stay here a little bit longer. But for that to happen, she'd have to make a good impression at them which was not really her line of expertise. She's good at insulting, being rude, and be straight out offensive and she's good at talking back, too. What will happen if she can't prolong her stay here? What if they hate her? What if she got expelled without even getting started? The blank wood of the closed door she'd been staring for ten minutes seemed to evade the answers.

"Hey, you! What are you doing there? Aren't you supposed to be in class? Are you cutting classes?"

She blinked incredulously at the figure of the fuming teacher in front of his table that was once in her view of the closed door. It took her brain some time before she figured that it was Kuroko who opened the door.

"Me?" she asked, pointing at herself.

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"I don't know. It might be—ehh?" she was surprised and quite insulted when she found Kuroko not beside her anymore. That bastard.

"Don't just stand there, answer my question."

She can't help the blush rising up her cheeks due to extreme embarrassment. She could feel the undivided attention of her new classmates directed at her.

"I'm a new student here," she reasoned, covering her discomfort through a poker face. "I kind of got lost..."

The teacher huffed before shuffling some papers above his desk until he settled with one. "Maeda Rin, I gathered?"

"Hai."

"Take a seat wherever you please," he gestured at his class in a gruff way.

Rin bowed stiffly at the man and eyed the room for an empty seat. She found one conveniently at the back and made her way to it. She sat awkwardly and forced herself to listen to the teacher who continued his rasp lecture about subject-verb agreement.

Thinking back, she fought the urge to scowl at the memory of her seemingly unusual encounter with one Kuroko Tetsuya. Next time it would happen, she would make sure that he would pay for ditching her at the mercy of the grouchy professor.

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**A/N: Reviews or a simple acknowledgement would be appreciated. Flames are not exactly welcomed but, hey, this is the democratic era, you can say whatever you want but don't expect to be regarded. Constructive criticisms are much, much better. Don't hesitate to PM me if there are errors in my work, k?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Chapter 2**

**A/N: Since Chapter I and II are done anyway, I'll post it both today. I'm in a roll! But expect the next chapter probably next week. I'm still working on it and writing Kuroko's character is rather hard because he's so... dull, for the lack of a better word.**

**Well, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: Should I even write this?**

**CHAPTER II**

Rin stared at the rambling teacher yet not really understanding or even listening at anything she said. She'd been in Seirin for almost a week now and she can't help but feel a little bored. True, she'd been into so much trouble outside the school but never inside its premises for she didn't want Junpei-nii scolding her. The multi-personality, respect-oriented guy was all she was afraid of. She had avoided as much social interaction as she can to prevent the uncontrolled fluctuation of her mood. Her fists were so aching to be in action and her mouth was itching to blurt something foul though.

One person to vent her frustration was all she'd ever need.

Rin was about to doze off when the bell rung signaling lunch break. The teacher who she didn't even know what subject taught or even her name finally went out the room. She stretched gratefully in her seat and grabbed her bag. She's skipping classes. Classes are boring in this school anyway.

She was walking through the hallway when a hand covered her mouth and pulled her in an empty classroom. Her reflexes were useless because she was too stunned to move or even realize she'd been dragged rudely by someone. If she was in her right mind, she would've never let something like that happen. It was too late when she felt herself being pushed forcefully to the neatly ordered row of chairs. She felt one of the corner of the wooden table dig her side and it was not gentle.

"You bitch," one of the guys bit out. There were three of them and she can vaguely remember them as the goons at the alleyway on her way back from the school some nights ago. They were awesome frustration and stress absorbers for her but she never knew that they were studying here. "You should think twice before you randomly invade a territory!"

Rin gingerly rubbed her side and gave the hoodlums a cold stare that could turn fire to ice but didn't say anything. She refused to curse when she didn't feel like it. Besides, these trashes don't even deserve her wits.

"What are you gonna do?" the other guy said as he bent so they're at eye level. She supposed he's the leader of their gang. "You gonna cry? You're outnumbered this time and you won't catch us off guard ever again!"

Almost there, Rin thought. She narrowed her eyes at the guy and when his head was close enough, she banged her own head at his nose. He wailed at the contact and Rin heard the unmistakable sound of his nose breaking. She smiled with satisfaction.

"Your breath stinks," she remarked down at the ugly gorilla while wiping invisible dusts off her uniform after standing up. She thought it was just her imagination when she saw something blue at the corner of her eye. She dismissed it immediately because there was no one else in the room but her and her assailants.

The holes of the gorilla's broken nose flared in anger. The two other guys were coming at her and she was more than ready for them when the leader raised his hand to stop them. "I'll make you regret this."

The guy's fist shot quickly, aiming for her gut. She almost failed to avoid it but her reflex was fast enough, she side-stepped to dodge the damage. Finding an opening, she dug her knee in his gut with all the force she can muster which made him groan in agony. He crumpled in pain at the floor.

The other guy attacked but she saw it coming. She quickly grabbed a random object, which turned out to be a heavy textbook, and hauled it at his face, strong enough to knock him off and he followed his leader on the floor.

What she over-looked was the third guy. She failed to see him close in and she realized too late when a solid punch landed on her jaw. It wasn't long after a resounding slap followed across her face. She felt her lip burst and the tangy taste of blood was strong on the inside of her cheek. He was huge and buff so Rin was doubtful that she'll be able to knock him off or cause any major damage but she knew where his weakness lies. The guy sent another fist aiming for the side of her head when she suddenly ducked and kicked him where the sun doesn't shine. He grabbed his groin, pain painted all over his ugly face. She narrowed her eyes in rage and smashed his face with a flying round house kick. He laid unconscious on the floor with a hard thump.

Rin dabbed her fingers on the corner of her lips and was not surprised to find it bleeding. She scoffed in disappointment and righted her uniform. "Wimps," she muttered under her breath.

Flicking her hair across her shoulder, she turned to leave the goons and forget anything ever happened inside that empty classroom since class was about to start anyway. She just missed her lunch because of those losers.

Rin was surprised when the leader suddenly stood up and caught her in a headlock. She squirmed but the guy was strong, and even though she wouldn't admit it, she knew it would never be easy breaking through it.

"What makes you think you can just walk away, huh?" his rasped voice was a disgusting sound to her ears, and it was so close too. "You little—ahh!"

His face contorted into a hideous scream when she bit his arm as hard as she could she knew she drew out blood. He unknowingly loosened his hold and Rin took the chance. She elbowed his ribs which caused him to take a few steps back. Using the nearby chair as leverage, she boosted herself up and gave him a hard cuff from above as she fell down. His face whipped to the side with the force of her punch and he landed in a heap on the floor.

She wrinkled her nose in annoyance and grabbed her forgotten bag.

"What a shame," the fallen guy murmured but loud enough for her to hear. He was saying something else but Rin's ears seemed to be suddenly plugged.

Rin's sight darkened. If there's one word she resented the most, it was "shame". Every time that word was mentioned to her, she remembered the disappointed looks of her parents, their piercing words rung inside her head, repeating and repeating like a mantra of sorts which made her anger and frustration rise up and blow up like a bomb. The control in her emotions would snap and she would see nothing anymore, like now. The next thing she knew, she was straddling him and pummeling his face with punches after punches. "I. Am. Not. A. Shame!" she shouted. Each of her word was emphasized with a punch.

Her next punch was stopped by someone, which turned out to be a teacher. She let them pull her off him but remained glaring at the guy's bloody face. Her left eye was still twitching, the way it usually did when she's blinded by rage, her knuckles were still shaking, and her breath was uneven. "Look at that, you monkeys," she said. "This is not over yet—"

"Enough!" the teacher bellowed. "You," he pointed at the male students behind him. "Take those three to the infirmary."

The students immediately obeyed the teacher and carried the unconscious forms of her victims out of the classroom.

That's when Rin noticed the students looking at her from the window. Some of them were looking at her with pity, some with contempt, but mostly, they were just judgmental. She didn't care what they thought of her. She was about to look away when something blue caught her eye. Her eyes narrowed at the boy standing behind the teacher. She remembered him from her first day in this school, Kuroko Tetsuya who didn't have much of a presence and could easily be over-looked, and he was that similar blue she saw a while ago before her fight had gotten too far. He must've been the one who told that meddling teacher.

How he could remain impassive despite of what's happening in front of him was maddening. Maybe it's the rage, but seeing him made her want to punch him in the face, too.

"You," she started as she stepped closer to him. "You son of a—"

"Enough!" the teacher bellowed again, stopping her at her tracks. Rin was getting tired of him cutting her sentences. "Young lady, you will go to the guidance counselor's office right this instant!"

She gritted her teeth in annoyance, shooting the teacher with an unwavering glare before stomping out of the cursed classroom.

Oh, her cousin is so gonna kill her…

"Your first week and you've already caused so much trouble!"

Rin flinched at the booming voice of the guidance counselor. After the incident inside the empty classroom, you can imagine what happened next. Rin was sent to the guidance counselor where her punishment would be decided. She doubted she'd be able to stay here after what she had done. Maybe she should have agreed with her parents and just homeschooled.

"I've read your profile and I've never seen anyone get expelled that frequent!" he continued.

Rin sat opposite him at the other side of his mahogany table while he sat at his leather swivel chair. She suppressed the urge to glare at the man who had been lecturing her for almost an hour now. Who is he, her father?

"The three hoodlums would be suspended for two months! You should be, too!"

Her ears perked up at his last sentence. "Should be? Meaning I'm not?"

He slammed his palms at his desk. "Not yet! You should be expelled after what you've done!"

"It was self-defense. I was trying to defend myself—"

"That is not how I've heard it!"

"But—"

"You will have detention for two weeks!"

"What? I—"

"And you will be helping the librarian for two months!"

"But I—"

"And you'll be cleaning the basketball court till the tournament this winter is over because the team would be too busy winning!"

A growl rose up from Rin's throat. What's wrong with people in this place? They never let her finish her sentence!

"Isn't that too much?" she asked or more like whined, irritated. Her patience was wearing thin. "It wasn't even my fault those guys were wimps and they were the one who hauled me inside that stupid classroom! And the basketball gym is huge! You can't expect me to clean that alone every day!" She added quickly because she's afraid that the counselor would butt in her sentence again.

"You should be thankful! I could've expelled you!"

The intensity of his almond-shaped eyes were daring her to defy him, prove him wrong, all the while his large belly shifted up and down in a disturbing rhythm every time he shouted. For a second, she wondered if she'll get away with one extremely rude retort just to see how far she could rile him up but decided against it.

"Fine," she muttered. Yeah, she should be grateful. Not all guidance counselor would give her that much. Any other school staff would have kicked her out of the school then and there.

"Good. Your detention will start tomorrow at 4:00 PM. You will go to the library after that and clean the gym when you're done, got it?"

She huffed. "Hai."

"Dismissed. Get out of my office."

She closed his door as gentle as she could despite the fact that she wanted to slam it till its hinges fell.

Damn it!

**A/N: Don't forget to leave a review! Erm, if you want to. I'm not forcing anybody, but it would be nice if you did. And if I'm fueled enough by it, the next chapter might come sooner.**

**P.S. Don't hesitate to point out grammatical errors.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Too soon? Well, here it is. I updated today because I wouldn't be able to do it next week since my exams are scheduled then. I have to focus on my studies too, you know. I didn't want to disappoint anybody (if anyone's at least hoping for this chapter to be released sooner, that is) so I forced myself to finish the third chapter. Anyway, I originally wanted to squeeze this during the start of the third season since it will be following the same plotline but interactions would be difficult then because the games would be continuous. So, yeah. This chapter is a little bit unfinished yet 'cause it is rushed but I'll edit some of it later. **

**Thank you to Pea Brain Writer for being my first reviewer. I just inserted the other delinquents for the plot twist. I agree with you, by the way. I don't give a damn about Fan Books either. XD **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

**CHAPTER III**

Rin decided to dawdle for a bit in the arcades before heading home. She played a couple of games to buy time, mostly so she could avoid the impending endless lecture she'd get from her cousin. She enjoyed some, but there were some that she almost broke due to frustration of losing. If she got kicked out of the arcade, it wouldn't be new. She'd been kick out of plenty of establishments before. Fortunately, it's her lucky day. Maybe the Gods favored her after that commotion in Seirin High. Having lost track of time, it escaped her that it's already dark outside since the sun had already set but when she did notice it, she just shrugged her shoulders and continued playing.

Skipping on her way home and avoiding the alleyways that she has ventured quite often, she contentedly licked the cone of ice cream on her hand. She figured that she had enough fun with beating people up to last her for at least a week after what had happened in Seirin. Come to think of it, she had never been punished before. Well, if her expulsions were not counted of course. The severity of her damages was always to the extreme and most institutions just didn't have the patience to deal with someone untamed like her. She would immediately be expelled before she can even clean comfort rooms or wash dishes in the cafeteria. It almost seemed like Seirin High School gave her another chance.

As if them accepting a transferee in the middle of the school year with a bad reputation wasn't a favor enough. She wondered if her father had anything to do with it.

She halted in front of her house, err, her relative's house, contemplating whether she should tiptoe her way to her room or just go in the normal way. She braced herself and entered the house. Might as well get this over with. It's a good thing her uncle won't be coming home till next week and her aunt will probably be back late this evening which left Junpei-nii and her. Should she take it as a good thing or a bad thing?

"I'm home," she announced when she stepped inside the house, eating the last of her ice cream cone.

The first thing she noticed was the absence of her older cousin on the couch with a frown on his forehead and his arms crossed above his chest like usual whenever she came home way past her curfew.

She changed her shoes and headed to the kitchen but found it empty, too. How odd.

Going up the staircase, she found her temperamental older cousin in his room opposite to hers while packing some of his clothes. He seemed to be too busy to even notice her presence.

"Umm, what are you doing Nii-san?" she asked.

He almost jumped three feet high when he heard the sudden question. "The heck, Rin! Don't you know how to knock?"

"That didn't exactly answer my question," she answered innocently, hoping that he wouldn't become aware of how late it was and that she just came home. "Are you packing? Where are you going?"

Junpei turned his back to her and continued packing. "I'm leaving first thing tomorrow morning for a training camp."

"What? Didn't you just come home yesterday evening? What kind of training camp are you attending anyway?"

"It's a basketball training camp," he answered with his back still facing her.

Rin shot him an incredulous look.

She knew how much he loved basketball back when he was still in middle school. He trained so hard and spent almost all his leisure time practicing that annoying sport. Don't get her wrong, she knew how good a clutch shooter he was but his team just never won any match at all. There even came a time she went to one of his games and cheered for his team to at least show she supported his obsession despite that she went to a different school, but they still lost. Since his last year in middle school, he loathed basketball more than anything. Her uncle even told her how Junpei dyed his hair and threw his basketball shoes when he entered high school, looking like a constipated blonde with a stick shoved way up his arse.

"Basketball? I thought you quit playing that stupid sport?"

"Aho!" he scolded, glaring at her through his glasses. "Basketball is not stupid! And I didn't quit! As a matter of fact I'm the Captain of the Basketball Team!"

"What?" she asked with a snicker. "You gotta be kidding me."

"Tch. Whatever, baka. There's food in the kitchen. Eat it and go straight to bed," he ordered with a mortified huff. He's probably annoyed that she hated his guts when it came to basketball.

With a snort, she did what she's told.

Ahh, it's a good thing he forgot to lecture her about what happened in school. Maybe he doesn't know yet? As if her broken lip wasn't a dead giveaway. Well, he's probably too distracted to notice.

Shrugging her shoulders, she ate her supper.

* * *

Her punishments were taxing, and it's annoying the hell out of her.

Every day she would have to waste an hour doing nothing inside the detention room with obnoxious people wherever she looked.

Then arrange shelves after shelves of books that she didn't even give a damn about. It was really a long time since she stepped inside a library. Heck, she couldn't even remember when the last time she read a book was, let alone hold one. She'd rather play video games all day than read a book even for a minute. And now she'd be in the company of those stupid books for two months! Gee, she wondered how she would survive.

Not to mention the gym. She wanted to laugh at how ridiculous that task was. The basketball court itself was already 4200 square feet! Then the bleachers, or just the viewing platform or whatever they call it. Although the gym was not as big as the gyms in other schools, the guidance counselor was still insane to think that she could clean it whole all by herself. That's why she made up her mind. She wouldd never clean it. At all. She did go there every day though. Sometimes napping and sometimes wasting her time bouncing a spare basketball on a wall then catching it again then repeating it just for the sake of amusement.

Despite the fact that she'd been doing that same routine for two weeks now, she had never met the members of the basketball club. Well, considering the fact that they went to a training camp that would last for almost half a month when the task was given to her, it's probably understandable that she wouldn't meet them any time soon. If she's not mistaken, the current high school basketball tournament was the Winter Cup and it had just started yesterday.

Well, she could care less. She was just a little bit grateful that she had managed to abstain from violence a lot more lately. With something to occupy her time, she no longer went out of her way to cause some trouble. And another good thing, she had the gym all to herself. She still skipped classes whenever she wanted though.

Tucking a misplaced book under her arm, she glided her way to the book shelves and looked for the reserved section but halted at her tracks when she overheard a conversation. The topic's not exactly her usual interest but she can't help but be curious. She hid behind one of the bookshelves and, well, eavesdropped.

"I've heard our school's basketball team played yesterday," said a girl with a funny looking bun attached on her head.

"Yeah, and they won!" the other one answered in a gleeful tone albeit a little bit hushed because they were in the library. The student body seemed to be pleased with the attention Seirin High was getting since the basketball team entered the tournament. "Against Touou, no less!"

"You mean Aomine Daiki's team? Kiseki no Sedai's ace?" Bun asked in surprise. With the lack of a reply, Rin assumed that the other girl must have nodded. "Wow! They're amazing!"

Kiseki no Sedai… Generation of Miracles? What is that?

"You should've seen them play, it was like awesome. With Hyuga-senpai, our team could've beaten them with a shoot-out. And then there's Kagami-kun. He played one-on-one against Aomine Daiki!"

No wonder Junpei-nii came home late last night. They must have celebrated.

She unknowingly smiled at the thought of what her cousin felt when he finally won in a game that he loved and enjoyed.

"Maeda-san."

The smile on her lips immediately dropped. The timbre of the voice was certainly familiar though she couldn't place where she heard it. But hearing that robotic, emotionless tone sparked an anger she couldn't place.

Looking frantically around, she was surprised to find no one. Dismissing it as trick of her senses, she went back to eavesdropping at the girls who were talking about the members of Seirin basketball team.

"Maeda-san." Came the voice again.

Rin stiffened and glanced around but grew frustrated when she found no one again. Gripping the book with both her hands, she glared at the empty space. If whoever's playing a prank at her thought this was funny, then they're messing with the wrong girl. "Whose there?"

"Maeda-san, the librarian wished to speak with you."

She could've screamed if her throat hadn't run dry. She could've hit him with the book she held if she wasn't paralyzed where she stood.

She should have known it was the teal-haired phantom whose mere shadow infuriated her more than the next thing she hated. The same boy she'd been hunting inside the school for two weeks. The same person she wanted to pummel with her fists with till she's satisfied enough. Hell, he's the reason she's inside this library that she doubted she'd ever venture at till her next life in the first place!

"What the heck is your problem?" she venomously asked as she grabbed his collar closer so they were eye to eye. 'Cause she would never admit it, but this lanky kid was a few inches taller than her. Staring at his dull cerulean eyes that never even showed a hint of emotion despite of her sudden action for a minute somehow unnerved her. "Tch. You're annoying."

She pushed him back forcefully as she let go of his collar. He straightened the ruffle her grip made with his fingers.

"I'll deal with you later. Don't you dare ditch me again, you bastard. You owe me a lot," she threatened with a scowl and a glare. Turning around, she headed at the librarian's counter, but not before flashing an I-am-watching-you sign at him with two of her fingers.

After talking to the librarian who just oriented her with additional chores during her remaining month and a half library service, she walked around the library while pretending to inspect some books but in truth, she was looking for a certain phantom. She cursed under her breath when her efforts were fruitless even though she had completed her round; believing that he had ran away from her again.

Sitting at one of the chairs in a hidden corner of the area, she almost jumped up when she found the person she'd been looking for on the opposite side of her table while inspecting the cover of a book, piles of more at his side.

"Domo," he greeted without looking at her. "You found me."

It almost sounded like he never expected her to.

"Tch. Tough luck then," she answered after she got over her shock. Sheesh, she'll never get use to his sudden appearances. "You're gonna answer my questions then I'll decide whether I'll punch you or not."

He threw her a glance but didn't say anything then went back to whatever he was doing. Realizing he was not gonna say anything at all, she took it as a yes. Besides, whether he refused or not, he will satisfy her curiosity. She had so many things to accuse him of but she couldn't decide how to start.

"Were you the person I saw inside that stupid classroom two weeks ago?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hai," he answered without a second thought. Well, at least he's being honest.

"What were you doing there?"

"I forgot my book."

Rin's mind automatically flashed back on that incident, remembering the heavy text book she threw at one of the gorillas. He must have come back to retrieve it but failed to because, the next moment, it knocked out a hoodlum.

"Then you're the one who sold me out, aren't you?" she asked in a menacing tone. Anger was starting to bubble up her conscious but she tried to control as much as she can.

"Hai."

He's not even denying it!

"Then, why'd you do it?" If he didn't tell that meddling teacher, she would have not be wasting her time attending detention, arranging books, and just generally wasting time!

He looked at her in the eyes. "Maeda-san was in trouble." His voice was laced with concern but his face remained emotionless.

She stared back at him, her mind tumbling to a halt and her anger suddenly subsiding. She tried to find any trace of false sincerity on his face, but finding none, she diverted her gaze. He did seem like someone who did not deceive other people in a regular basis. In fact, the innocence and genuine compassion that she saw in his eyes was making her guilty for even accusing him of anything. But not guilty enough to trust him.

"I can take care of myself," she said in a low icy tone, more to herself than him. "Besides, why are you here? Are you stalking me?" She pointed an accusing finger at him.

Yeah, he must be following her. Maybe that's the reason why she couldn't find him anywhere.

He gave her a look before his eyes trailed down his chest and Rin followed his eyes. On the left side of his chest was an ID pinned on his uniform that read "Library Staff" below his name.

Rin felt her face redden due to embarrassment and immediately withdrew her out-stretched arm. "T-tch. And what about when we first met? Why'd you have to open the door and humiliate me? You could've just let me open the door myself."

"I didn't want to be late."

"Wha—" Realization came crashing down on her. "We're classmates?"

Nodding his head, he piled the books on his table neatly after glancing at the wall clock nearest to them. He removed the pinned ID on his uniform and pocketed it.

"I apologize, Maeda-san," he said with an apologetic expression. "I have to go meet a friend."

"Fine." He was about to sprint away when she grabbed his wrist. "I'm not done with you yet, Kuroko."

When he nodded again, she let him go, the warmth of his pale skin lingering on her palm. She watched him approach the librarian who almost screamed if not catching herself then he disappeared out the door.

"That was interesting," she said to herself as she smirked.

On another thought, it would be nice to see her older cousin play basketball again. She wondered what had changed since the last time she watched him. Maybe she'll just have to watch his next game to find out.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. Tell me what you think about it. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello! I'm such a bad girl, aren't I? Well you know that feeling when you're thinking of something and you just can't get it out of your head no matter what you do? And the worst part of it, I can't concentrate on studying because it just kept popping out all of a sudden. I didn't know what else to do so I updated it here to give my brain some rest. Forgive me if I'm not able to keep my word at all, but can you blame me? I'm just the same as those authors who thinks they'd go crazy if they don't write what's going on inside their head. So even though I've got my Accounting mid-term exam tomorrow, I still took time to write this.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. I appreciate it so much and it's one of the reason why I finished this chapter. I'm so glad you liked my OC. And i hope you'll still like her after this chapter 'cause she's so unpredictable sometimes words just come out of her mouth like water. Heck, even I can't control her!**

**Enjoy reading...**

**Disclaimer: Blah, blah, and blah...**

**CHAPTER IV**

Mildly feeling self-conscious, Rin pulled her baseball cap lower. Somehow, she didn't seem to belong or fit in with anyone inside the place where people played with sportsmanship and garner honor for their respective schools. She felt like a criminal hiding behind a crowd.

The place was packed with people of all ages; annoying little kids, giggling teenage girls, boys in varsity jackets, and supportive parents. She almost thought that the dome might burst if the cheering and shouting didn't stop. Everyone was having fun; she could see it on their faces.

Stepping closer to the railing, she let a smile grace her lips when she saw her cousin lead his team as they came out. His face was set in a determined expression, the same expression she'd seen him bear whenever his basketball matches were about to begin. With each of his stride, she could feel his authority to his teammates and his confidence in them. Maybe something did change since his plays in middle school. Looking at the whole team right now, she could tell that them as a whole were what had changed his cousin's outlook on basketball since his attempt to quit it.

Gazing at the rest of the members of the team, she recognized Izuki Shun. He was one of Junpei's teammates in middle school so they were acquainted enough to be on friendly terms. He was the one spouting silly puns every chance he got. Then there's Aida Riko. She's her cousin's friend for a long time. Rin remembered her clearly because she always choked her with a hug whenever they see each other back when she was still in middle school. The rest were strangers to her.

She wondered which of them was Kagami, the one Bun was talking about in the library. Maybe he's that giant with huge hands or that intimidating redhead. They seemed like good basketball players. Come to think of it, those gossipers were talking about something called Kiseki no Sedai. Generation of Miracles. She wondered what they meant by that.

After the warm-ups, the announcer declared the start of the game. They were against Nakamiya South High of Kagawa. Five of the seniors were the starters, Hyuga Junpei and Izuki Shun among them.

As the game commenced, she leaned on the railing, growing more and more excited. At the tip-off, Seirin immediately gained possession of the ball. They sure look pumped!

However, by the time the first quarter had only a minute left, Rin found herself gripping the metal railing while gritting her teeth.

Watching them was upsetting. Junpei could barely make any three. The center often lost both offensive and defensive rebounds. Their defense was half-assed and the offence was distracted. They didn't even bother to go after the ball when it bounced to the outside line while the opposing team did! They were too laid back; overconfident. Maybe Riko observed too so she requested a time out.

During the time-out, Rin watched them huddle to probably talk about strategy or whatever on the bench. Seemed as if they really needed that huddle 'cause when the game resumed, their heads are finally out of their asses. They fought with more vigor and they no longer underestimate their opponents. Riko sure knew how to handle them; if the handprints on their faces are any indication of that.

Seirin High won in the end. She felt elated as the starters pumped their fists in the air, their shouts of victory, though subdued by the eruption of the crowd's cheering, rung in her ears like a sweet chime of a bell. For a second she wondered if she'd ever have the chance to experience that same moment of triumph they were feeling then; the genuine joy of winning something because you worked hard for it, not because of bashing someone else's face.

With a last glance at the court, she decided it would be nice if she could surprise her cousin and personally congratulate their team's victory right now.

* * *

As she neared Seirin basketball team's locker room, a sound caught her ear. Rin immediately turned around, a delighted smile breaking her lips.

"Arf!" the dog barked again. She recognized him instantly as the shivering little puppy she found in the school grounds during her first day in Seirin. Kuroko's look-alike pet, Nigou.

Rin kneeled on the ground and the dog enthusiastically ran to her. It seemed he recognized her too because he nuzzled his nose on her shoulder when she hugged him, his tail wagging energetically behind him. She smiled down at him and he licked her cheek.

"Hey, little buddy," she greeted him and he barked in return. "Wow, you sure ran away a lot. What are you doing here? Isn't this too far away from the school?"

He barked again and panted with his tongue hanging from his open mouth, his azure eyes twinkling as if he understood every word she uttered. Oh, he's so cute!

Rin scratched him behind his ear and he leaned to her hand. That's when she noticed the jersey the dog was wearing. It was a modified jersey of the Seirin basketball club with the dog's name and the number 16 printed on its back.

She fought the urge to burst out laughing then and there. What possessed Kuroko to make his dog wear a jersey? She can't help but assume that the teal-haired phantom must be a die-hard fan of the team, if not then why else would he do something like this? It's absurd and idiotic!

Shaking her head in amusement, she hugged the dog closer and continued her way to the locker room.

When she reached the door with a sign that indicated that it was indeed the room she was looking for, she never thought twice when she opened it and stepped inside; kicking it close behind her like she owned it in the process. The minute she looked up her face turned pale, almost white; then just as fast, red rose up her neck to her cheeks and to the tip of her ears.

If one's a girl, there was definitely something wrong when you enter a room packed with sweaty, well-built, barely dressed boys. And as far as Rin was concerned, although Junpei suspected otherwise, she was still a girl. "Ah. Uhm. Err," she mumbled incoherently while looking wide-eyed at the equally surprised and red-faced basketball club members. She was even too stunned to realize when or how Nigou had wiggled his way out of her arms and wobbled somewhere.

"M-Maeda-chan?" Izuki stuttered, recognizing her just by the streaks of white strands on her ebony hair.

She felt someone grab the top of her head and pivoted her to face the closed door. She realized it was her older cousin because he yelled an order at his teammates to dress up. Probably with a piercing glare.

"Ehem," Junpei cleared his throat when they were finally decent enough.

She faced them and crossed her arms over her chest to conceal her mortification, an accusing scowl on her lips although she knew she was the one who barged in without knocking on the door.

"Who's this brat?" the redhead broke the silence as he pulled a white shirt over his head. "Are you lost, little girl?"

Brat? Little girl? Rin felt her left eye twitch.

"Don't talk to her like that!"

"Are you looking for trouble?" Izuki whispered nervously as he glanced at the guy, shooting him warnings through his hawk-eye. How he really wished it worked that way right now.

The redhead gave them a skeptical look. "She's just a girl—"

He was cut off when a fist collided with his jaw and he landed with a dent on the lockers, knocked-out. Rin just upper cut the consciousness out of him. The rest of the boys gaped at her, her eyebrow raised in annoyance.

"Maeda Rin, Hyuga Junpei's maternal cousin," she introduced herself as she turned to them with a glower and her fist still raised in the air. "Who's next?"

The boys sweat-dropped, still gaping at the girl.

"Mah, Hyuga, you never old us you have a cute spunky cousin," the giant with the huge hands broke the silence as he put an arm around her twitching cousin's shoulder. "I'm Kyoshi Teppei. Nice to meet you, Rin-chan!"

"I'm Koganei Shinji and this is Mitobe Rinnosuke," the funny looking guy butted in when he finally gotten over his shock then gestured to the other guy beside him who nodded at her with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Maeda-san! I can definitely see you're related to Captain."

"I hate the way you've said that, Koga," Junpei stated with a knot forming on his temple.

"I'm Tsuchida Satoshi, a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Kawahara Koichi," the bald person said.

"Furihata Koki!" the other said, a thumbs-up directed at her.

"And my name is Fukuda Hiroshi. Nice to meet you," the last of them declared.

"I don't know if you still remember me but I'm Izuki Shun," Izuki said. "You've grown since I last saw you, Maeda-chan. How are you?"

"Good. It's great to see you again, Izuki," she said with a smile, albeit small. "Nice to meet all of you too."

The boys finally relaxed when they saw her smile; the hostile atmosphere thick inside the small room dissipating slowly.

"What are you doing here, Rin? Don't tell me you caused some trouble again!" Junpei exclaimed.

"Am I not allowed to watch you play now?" She crossed her arms. "You're welcome, Nii-san."

"Now, now, Hyuga," Kiyoshi said with a laidback smile, patting him on his back. "Don't be too hard on her."

"Stop it, baka," Junpei hollered as he tried to slap away his big hand behind him.

"I've watched your game," Rin started, catching the attention of everyone inside the room, well, except the passed out redhead. Junpei and Kiyoshi momentarily stopped bickering, waiting for her to finish her sentence. She tried to recall the beaming faces she saw on the court after the buzzer echoed inside the gymnasium; how each of them screamed with joy when the game ended with them as the winner. Looking at their faces right now, she could tell that they were playing not just to win when they were on the court, but to have fun together playing the sport they love. "It was a great game," Rin said sincerely.

The boys smiled at her, even Junpei did. It was not even much of a compliment but the team was humble enough to appreciate what she said, mostly because the soft way she stated it was what gave them the idea that she meant every word of it.

The door opening suddenly broke the silence that followed her small speech. In came Aida Riko holding a bag of refreshments for the team but the moment her eyes settled on Rin, the bag landed on the floor and the girl was tackled to the ground.

"Rin-kun!"

Rin's face turned white due to lack of oxygen because Riko was squeezing the life out of her while still looking totally happy about it. She could see the panic on everyone's face but was hesitant to do something about it.

"I-I c-can't b-breath, R-Ri-k-ko," she desperately said to the older girl. Rin inhaled a much needed breath of oxygen when Riko finally let her go.

"Mou, Rin-kun. I told you to stop calling me that," Riko whined as she helped Rin stand up. The boys were scooting farther away from them because they hadn't seen their couch act that way before. "It's Onee-chan or Riko-nee-chan, okay?"

She nodded, deeming it useless to argue with the unpredictable auburn-haired girl. Besides, she's still out of breath.

"Couch, are you trying to kill my cousin?" Junpei asked angrily.

"Shut up, Hyuga. Or I'll double your training!" Riko said back and Junpei immediately recoiled.

"Couch?" Rin finally got a word out. "You're their couch?"

Riko nodded enthusiastically. "Hai."

Just then, a groan was heard inside the room. It was the redhead who was finally waking up. Everyone looked at him while Riko crossed her arms.

"Bakagami," Riko said. "What the heck are you doing sleeping on the floor?"

"Wait—what?" he jolted upright and raised an eyebrow at them. Then, realization of what happened before he got knocked out dawned on him. He glowered at her. "Why'd you do that for, you little punk?"

"Because I can. Got a problem with that, split-brows?" she said back with a growl.

"Why, you little—"

"You lack delicacy as usual, Kagami-kun."

"Arf!"

That voice. Rin froze and sought out for the owner of it. And there beside the redhead, holding Nigou was the guy she was looking for, wearing the same varsity jacket as the rest of the members of Seirin Basketball Club. It seemed everyone inside the room was already used to Kuroko's disappearing and reappering acts because they didn't look surprised at all. Some of them were shaking their head as they watch Kagami grab the top of Kuroko's head angrily and some of them were looking at her curiously, waiting for her reaction. When Nigou barked again, Kagami shockingly let go of Kuroko's head while glaring at both of them.

Instead of letting out the scream caught in her throat, Rin raised an eyebrow at the teal-haired boy. She sauntered at him and grabbed his collar forcefully.

"This guy plays basketball?" she said in an amused expression, gazing at all the faces inside the room.

The team members looked at each other first then stared at her.

"Of course," Kiyoshi answered.

She gazed at each of their faces again, then to Kuroko who remained quiet. Although, Rin gotta admit—inside the confines of her head—that he was a little taller than her, he was nothing like everyone else inside the room who towered at them like grown-ups instead of high school students, especially Kiyoshi who seemed out of place inside the crammed locker room.

She snorted. "What?" Rin pushed him off and snickered blandly as she clutched her stomach in fake laughter. "That's gotta be the worst joke I've ever heard in my life. You can't be that desperate for members, right?"

Everyone's gaze was serious; unimpressed. Kuroko looked solemn as he hugged Nigou, seeming extremely insulted.

"He is one of our players, you baka," Junpei defended his teammate. "In fact, he's one of our regulars!"

"A regular, all right. A regular bench warmer."

"Hey!" Kagami said angrily.

"That's gone too far, Rin-kun," Riko was fisting her hands. "Apologize to Kuroko-kun."

"What? No way," she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Besides, I'm only telling what's practical. I believe everyone here are great players. Even split-brows over there," Kagami's eye twitched, "However, although I don't have extensive knowledge about it, I know enough to assume that basketball is a sport that favors the strong and tall. Kuroko don't have any of those. No matter how much he convince himself and train hard every day, he would just look desperate, because he's weak. So tell me, prove me wrong, how a weak person like him play a sport like basketball. Heck, I bet he can't even defend himself!"

The room became quiet. You might even say that you'll here a pin dropping on the floor the moment it did. The air turned tense; even suffocating. the basketball team members were either shocked, displeased, or offended by what came out of her mouth. She could even see the unspoken promise of her cousin to discipline her later as he glowered at her with gritted teeth. She was too amused to regret it though.

"Maeda-san," Kuroko's voice was lower than usual; his face was obscured by his bangs. "I'll make you take back those words."

And as Rin locked eyes with the phantom, she realized for the first time that those baby blue eyes were not as dull as she thought they were. With the right determination and a simple push of his buttons, those dull and lifeless eyes burned intensely with passion, setting fire around him; seeking to dominate and burn down the pallid character that embodies him. She smirked maniacally.

"We'll see."

* * *

**A/N: Please tell me what you think so I'll know if people are still reading this stuff. I'll try to work on the next chapter based on what you say 'cause the plotline of this story is still pretty vague inside my head. I'm not really confident with this chapter yet so I edited some of its parts and rectified some of the grammatical errors.**

**My mid-term exam on Accounting is finally over but I think, not to brag or anything, they made it too easy. I finished it 30 minutes even before the deadline! XD**

**Anyway, thank you for reading. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm back! I don't know what else to write in the author's not besides that.**

**Thank you to chibi-no-baka, CherryPop0120, Demi-Chaos, Xxdreamergirl95xX, and Chiasmus for your reviews. Of course I've already thanked my first reviewer Pea Brain Writer but I'm gonna thank you again anyway. And thank you too to those who faved/followed this story. It's an honor.**

* * *

**Chapter V**

Ultimately, the insulted blue haired phantom ignored her existence all together since that event in the basketball team's locker room. It wasn't new. Her existence was pretty much ignored by her family anyway and she didn't know Kuroko that well to expect otherwise.

When she got home that day, she remembered quite clearly how her cousin scowled as he lectured her about sensitivity to other people's feelings. She half listened to it because she's half guilty but half of her was just amused. She wondered why Kuroko's feelings mattered so much to his teammates. He didn't seem much, and her perspective of him hadn't changed at all.

It irked her fascination somehow, the way he would always be unnoticed and over-looked by almost everyone, including her. At first she hadn't believe him when she learned that they shared the same class together. He didn't stand out much but the tall redhead does. It was easy to spot Kagami so she assumed that since they were always together, Kuroko would most likely be around him. And there he was, sitting in front of Split-brows often reading books.

She's in Seirin for almost a month now, the longest she'd ever stayed in the same school. Her library duties were the same and she still hadn't cleaned even a small portion of the gym but she was glad that she was able to stay in this school for a time longer. She'd always been violent after all, even when she was still in middle school. Most of the time, she just moved to different schools so she hadn't bothered to make any friends.

Maybe it would be nice to create a bond and make some friends for a change.

Glancing at the two basketball players seated near the window, she smirked mischievously. She's in the other side of the room, parallel where they were seating. The professor was writing something on the white board, his back facing the class while most of them were sleeping (that would be Kagami) or talking in a hushed tone.

She snickered to herself as she tore a page from her work book, it's not like she's using it anyway.

Thump.

The balled piece of paper bounced off the side of Kagami's head. Kagami jerked from his slouched position but stayed asleep. Her eye twitched. He's a heavy sleeper.

Her classmates who saw what she did flinched when she gave them a don't-you-dare-tell-the-teacher look. She smiled menacingly when they looked away and pretended they had seen nothing. What can she say; she'd always been a bully.

Thump.

Another balled piece of paper bounced off, this time, on Kuroko's head. He didn't as much as twitched, his eyes still glued to what he was reading but she knew he felt it. Her smirk grew. So the phantom was intent on ignoring her? Although it bothered her a little—because of the guilt—she still thought it was amusing.

Thump.

Another piece of paper was thrown at the teal-haired boy and Rin giggled to herself. Kuroko was still ignoring her but his brows were slightly furrowed, an obvious indication that he was annoyed.

She threw another balled paper but it was intercepted by a now awake Kagami, his hand catching the paper in midair before it hit her original target. She was fast though because another one landed squarely on the redhead's temple. She snickered again when one of Kagami's split eyebrow twitched.

She froze when she felt something bounce off at the top of her head. She glanced at their direction and saw Kagami grinning at her with satisfaction, his hand still raised in the air in the gesture of throwing. Before they knew it, it was an all-out war of throwing paper balls at each other. Every time the teacher would write something on the board, balls of paper were exchanged between the opposite sides of the room.

Her eye was twitching madly because almost all of Split-brows throws landed on her while half of hers hit everywhere, including the silent boy who was still reading his book as if nothing was happening around him. She should've expected his aim to be good; he's a basketball player after all.

She was about to throw another balled paper when the booming voice of the professor echoed inside the room and a slapping stick whacked Kagami's head.

"Maeda! Kagami! Detention after class hours!" he bellowed at both of them. "And clean the room before you get out."

Before Kagami could say anything, the teacher went back in front of the class and continued his lesson. She felt the intense glare directed at her and she returned it with sticking her tongue out which seemed to rile him up even more.

It's annoying to go back to that stupid detention room again but at least she didn't get hit by a slapping stick, unlike Spit-brows.

After detention, she hadn't run into Kuroko inside the library. He was avoiding her no doubt. And because of his resentment of her, it was harder to spot him. Not like she cared, but it did bother her. She refused to apologize though.

It surprised her to see the members of the basketball club present inside the gym when she headed there. Usually when she went there, they have either finished practicing or were training somewhere else. It made her scowl to think that she'd be sharing the gym with them, never mind that it was practically theirs.

She fought the urge to fidget while under their scrutinizing gaze. After all, since that day inside the locker room, they became hostile around her. Even Riko was not tackling her with hugs anymore. She said she'd stay away from her until she formally apologizes to Kuroko.

Breathing out a sigh, she stepped inside the gym and headed to the viewing platform that overlooked the whole gym. Maybe a good nap would be helpful to lift her spirit.

"Rin-chan," Kiyoshi called her with a pleasant smile, a curious glint in his eyes. Out of all of them, Kiyoshi was the only diplomat when it came to socializing. "What are you doing here?"

Apparently, none of them still knew of her punishment, even her cousin who regarded her with a raised eyebrow. Maybe they're expecting she'd finally say sorry to Kuroko.

"Punishment," she answered with a self-deprecating grin, throwing the almost invisible boy a look from the corner of her eye. She's still blaming him.

"You got into trouble again? What did you do this time?" her cousin shoved Kiyoshi out of the way and glared at her.

She bowed her head. "Penalties could last for months I guess," she answered. "So I'm supposed to be here to clean the gym every day."

"But you don't!" Koganei accused. "We're still the one wiping the floor and cleaning the locker room. Right?"

He turned to the three freshmen who stood beside themselves for approval. They flinched and glanced at her nervously. Maybe they didn't want to anger her.

"Whatever," she said dismissively. "I don't do anything for anybody. Besides, I'm not into sports and the gym has of no use to me but a hang-out."

"Tch. No wonder you're always by yourself, you're so inconsiderate," Kagami butted in in an annoyed tone. "And it was because of you that I got into detention!"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Split-brows," she said with a smirk but her eye was twitching. "If you were using your brain then you shouldn't have thrown back the balled paper. Then we shouldn't have been both in detention."

"You got into detention again?" Junpei bellowed angrily but remained ignored by the two who were glaring daggers at each other.

"You started it, you brat!"

A slapping stick whacked Kagami for the second time that day. "That's enough, Bakagami!" Riko interjected. "And Rin-kun, just get on what you were supposed to do so the boys could get back to training!"

The basketball members grumbled under their breath and went back to training.

Riko's angry tone quite offended her but she didn't show it. She had never talked to Rin like that before and she almost sounded like her presence was a nuisance to their basketball practice.

Rin got a very bad habit. True, she's rude and abrasive but deep inside, she's a melodramatic person. Growing up with parents who had too high of an expectation, she learned protect herself from the wounding expression from them. She built walls around herself and detached herself from everyone. When anyone was getting too close, she pushed them away and continued on her tough girl act. It was her defense mechanism.

"Whatever," she said with a huff. Habits are hard to beat after all. She stepped higher on the staircase to go to her originally intended place.

She stopped when she heard Kuroko's monotone voice.

"Maeda-san," he said. She glanced at his apathetic face, a ball held close to his chest. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was relieved that he's finally talking to her again. "We have a match tomorrow evening."

She smiled inwardly despite herself. It almost sounded like he wanted to—

"Please come," he said politely then joined his fellow players back to the gym to practice.

Good thing. 'Cause he didn't see the bright smile that lit up her face. She'd be embarrassed if anyone pointed it out.

Somehow, Kuroko Tetsuya became interesting to her.

* * *

**A/N: There isn't much in this chapter but I hope it sufficed. I just wanted to update to thank the people who were still reading this. Please review for motivation. A good thing to say would always make me want to update but constructive criticisms are accepted, too. Flames will be ignored anyway but feel free to state you opinion.**

**Thank you again!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this took so long. I've been catching up with my life. **

**chibi-no-baka-yeah, about that. Rin don't have any inclination to any sport whatsoever and probably no, she had no idea what are the rules and whatevers about basketball. She's simply like that, you know. And being a delinquent and all, I think she would refuse to do anything productive. Thanks for pointing that out though and for your awesome review.**

**To everyone else who fave, followed, and reviewed, thanks again! I hope you like this chapter too although it's a little short.**

**Disclaimer: KuroBasu's not mine.**

**CHAPTER VI**

Her raven hair swayed with the cold winter breeze and it prickled the skin on her neck like little needles, making her fidget uncomfortably. Yeah, it must be the cold, she thought, not the traceable presence of the blue haired phantom in front of her.

His eyes looked at her with the same dull and disinterested way that made her slightly self-conscious. He stood about three feet away from her, still donning the varsity jacket and pants and the bag was slung on his shoulder but unlike her who secretly was a nerve-wreck, Kuroko was calm and emotionless as ever.

It was like over a minute ago when the game had ended. The team almost lost but Riko sent in her trump cards; the two first years in collaborate sync with each other that carried the team's victory against Morizono North. They were amazing to say the least. Kagami's unstoppable dunks spoke for itself, not to mention that the intimidating redhead participated in rebounding as well. Kuroko, on the other hand vaguely appeared and reappeared somewhere around the court. His passes were almost invisible and unpredictable to the opposing team. She remembered herself clutching the cloth above her heart in elation and joy when the game came to an end with them as the victors.

But after that euphoria came the trepidation of facing Kuroko to apologize for what she said some nights ago, 'cause she gotta be reasonable sometimes, and the boy clearly deserved it. So when the team filed out to their locker room, she readied herself to swallow her pride. Rin waited till they were outside the court before she called to them, lightly complimenting their play. The team looked at her expectantly.

"Kuroko," she said in a whisper but the wind carried the syllables to everyone's ears. "Can I," she added hesitantly, eyes fleeting to meet theirs in vague implication for help but they seemed to get it. "Talk to you for a moment."

The team members glanced at each other as heavy silence fell upon the group.

"Ugh," Split-brows coughed incoherently. "I think I forgot something in the locker room."

When the redhead left, everyone else made their own excuses to leave the two of them alone. Before Riko gave her own excuse to go, however, she hugged Rin and apologized for being cold the past few days.

And that left the two of them covered in the awkward silence, at least for her.

She had said "sorry" only once in the course of her violent life and she promised herself that she's not gonna say it again. Pride was a two-edged knife and as much as she hated to admit it, it was her greatest weakness.

"Kuroko" she mumbled, almost inaudible. The boy regarded her with an unwavering impassive countenance. "First, I wanna say it's cool you invited me to watch the game. Secondly, I—"

"Maeda-san," Kuroko's dead tone cut in her rambling. She snapped her gaze at the blue haired boy because she wasn't exactly looking at him in the first place. "I think you misunderstand. I invited you tonight for a selfish reason, and I apologize."

Rin looked at him with bewildered eyes, her brain momentarily short-circuiting. She came here to be the one to apologize, didn't she? Not the other way around.

"Wha—you just lost me. What are you talking about?"

"Since I started playing basketball, I have always been ostracized because of the bases you have said then. I have been hopeless, I've lost hope more than once but I manage to stand back up because I knew that it doesn't matter what other people say; as long as I loved basketball, it wouldn't matter. They doubted me, many others did. Even I doubted myself and my conviction to play a sport that didn't seem fit for me at all," he gripped the strap of his shoulder bag loosely. He was staring at the paved ground as if just reading what was written there.

Rin bit her lip and scrunched her forehead. "Why are you telling me this, Kuroko?"

"I don't know why but when it came from you, I felt particularly insulted, even more so than when others did. I invited you tonight because I wanted to prove you wrong. I," he faltered as he looked at her in the eye. If the cold was bothering her before, now it was like nibbling her insides. "I wanted you to take back those words so bad, Maeda-san."

For a moment, only the howling of the cold night air and the muted cheers from the stadium not far away from where they stood was heard. Heavy silence fell between the two teens; one giving the other an unnervingly blank stare whilst the other utterly speechless.

"I'm sorry."

There, she said it. She inwardly shed tears for her inflating dignity.

Heaving a defeated sigh, Rin ran her fingers through the side of her hair. "You were right. Prejudice is a back stabber. You played very well, Kuroko," she said as she looked at him. Maybe saying sorry once in a while could be worth it. Already, she felt her chest lighten and she smiled as the guilt that bothered her for days slowly fade away. "No, you were amazing."

Before he could react to her sudden compliment, Rin turned her baseball cap and gave him a thumb up and a wink. "To compensate for my rude behavior to Kuroko Tetsuya, I hereby promise to watch every game of Seirin Basketball Club from here on after and cheer for them even till my lungs gave out!"

If she could choose a moment to freeze the world, it would be this moment. It was small, almost unnoticeable, but there nonetheless. She should tell him to smile more often, when things are less awkward between them, that is. She giggled lightly through her fisted hands.

Rin hadn't felt him move. She could've punched him right on his abdomen if she failed to stop herself in time. She felt herself stiffen as Kuroko invaded her personal bubble and righted her cap, putting the flap above her eyes.

He patted the top of her head. "You shouldn't make promises on a whim, Maeda-san."

"I don't make promises on a whim, Kuroko," she said back in mock annoyance, softly slapping his hand of her head and taking a step back. Somehow, her gut tingled uneasily when Kuroko was too close, not in a bad way though and that's even more unsettling.

Rin suddenly felt truly annoyed when a bubble gum tuft of hair tackled the person she was talking to with a burst of a squeal like "Tetsu-kun!". Her first impulse was to beat the crap out of that person for rudely butting in her conversation with Kuroko but a huge—much like Split-brows—oddly dark-skinned guy appeared at her side. His hair was cobalt blue which almost blended in with the darkness of the night and strangely, his eyes were matching.

"Oi, Satsuki," the tall guy's voice addressed the pink blob which turned out to be a girl her age with an overdeveloped bosom and pink eyes. "Stop grappling Tetsu."

"Mou, Dai-chan," the girl who must be Satsuki pouted while pathetically—in Rin's perspective—still lying on the ground although Kuroko had already picked himself up. "You're so mean."

Rin decided that she'd been ignored long enough. Last time she checked, she was not the phantom in this story. "Are you okay, Kuroko?"

The two new comers shifted their attention to her, the guy raising an eyebrow while the girl gaped at her.

"I'm alright, Maeda-san," he said as he offered his hand to the pink-haired girl who was now looking at her suspiciously.

She narrowed her eyes at Rin while surveying her from head to toe. Although Rin wouldn't admit it, she felt unprepared with her black hoodie, jeans, and vans compared to the girl's winter coat, mini plaid skirt and knee-high socks. She pictured herself more like a confused tomboyish lesbian. Now that's bizarre.

"Ne, who is she, Tetsu-kun?"

Feeling rather stupid for the girl to ask Kuroko her name though she's right in front of her, Rin answered before Kuroko could. "I'm Maeda Rin."

"Rin," the girl repeated her given name as if searching her memory for someone she'd met with the same given name. Perhaps deeming it worthless, the girl smiled radiantly. "I'm Momoi Satsuki and this is Aomine Dai-chan."

"Daiki," the dark-skinned guy corrected. "Aomine Daiki."

Momoi grumbled inaudibly under her breath.

"Tetsu, let's go," he nodded to the silent boy. "I thought you wanted to practice your shooting."

Rin tilted her head to the side. "So he's the friend you've been meeting? Aomine Daiki, Kiseki no Sedai?"

She had finally found out what Kiseki no Sedai was. It was by accident actually. She found a magazine while napping inside the gym and it happened to be Basketball Monthly released on her last year in middle school. It featured a very well-known school called Teiko and their basketball club, mainly the regular starters of the team. She now knew that Kiseki no Sedai was a group of insanely great guys who knew how to pass a round object around and shoot it in a bottomless basket. Take a guess. Aomine Daiki, the ace; Kise Ryota, small forward; Murasakibara Atsushi, center; Midorima Shintaro, shooting guard; and unfortunately, the pages for the last member of the said basketball team were torn out so she never got to find out.

"Hai," Kuroko answered. He looked at her apologetically.

"It's okay," she said with a lop-sided smirk before Kuroko could apologize. "Be careful though. He looks like a gangurou. I can beat him up if he messes with you."

A knot formed on Aomine's forehead.

"Tch. Let's go," he said impatiently.

When the two were a meter away from them, Momoi gave her a gentle smile that seemed so genuine and so fake at the same time. "Tetsu-kun is my boyfriend," she brushed her pink hair above her shoulder with her fingers and widened her smile. "Please don't get any ideas."

Rin's eye twitched. She and Kuroko didn't even get along that well for her to have feelings for him.

"Oi, Satsuki. Stop chatting," Aomine called out when he saw that the girl was not following them.

"Coming, Dai-chan,"Momoi answered. She waved at Rin. "Bye, Rin-chan. See you later, ne?"

With Momoi's final wave, the trio slowly disappeared from Rin's view.

Hearing a notification from her phone, she flipped it open and read the message from Riko. She informed her that the rest of the team had each went home or attended their own businesses so if she had finished asking for forgiveness, she could also head home and not worry about anyone.

Adjusting her baseball cap, Rin smiled to herself.

What she said to Kuroko was true. She never promised on a whim. Watching their game was very entertaining so she was planning on watching them anyway. Besides, he should be honored. She only promised something to two persons in her life. One was to him and the other was to her father, a long time ago.

Momoi, on the other hand, was very odd. What gave her the idea that she liked Kuroko? And what's with her tackling Kuroko like that. Rin was a delinquent but she's not dumb. She knew for a fact that the Phantom was not at all interested with Momoi that way because although he tolerated her, he detached himself from her too. But it was clear to her that they have known each other for a long time, hence, they must be friends. So what compelled her to make up a story?

**A/N: Does it bother you that I write two Author's Note every chapter? If it does, well, tell me about it and I'll fix it. Please review to motivate the Authoress. Ahehe. Tell me what you think about it, k? Next Chap, Yosen and Muraskibara and probably some of the MiraGen.**


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Can I say sorry and be forgiven? Well, I'm still apologizing. This chapter is sooooo waaayyy long overdue and I feel very guilty for putting this story in an almost yearlong hiatus. In my defense, I don't really watch or read KuroBasu anymore. I've been so caught up with other things that I forgot the main plot of this story to pick up where I've left. I revised this chapter a few times before I deemed it presentable, and even then, I'm still not sure. I guess that's for the reader to decide, huh...

**Salome Maranya: **Tbh I don't know either. I'm not a Japanese nor do I live in Japan. I know that participating in a fight and sending three students to the infirmary is not a light offense though. Here in my country, she shouldn't have been brought to the councilor, she should have been expelled right out or was suspended for three months. I have once been punished when I was in high school. I cleaned the bathroom for a week, attended detention and washed dishes in the cafeteria all for cyber bullying my classmate using the school computers at my ACT class. Her mother was livid because I humiliated her in the internet. I'm sorry for blabbering. Thank you for reading my story anyhow. I'm quite honored. :)

To the others who faved, followed, and left reviews, thank you. It warms my heart. Thank you very much.

Disclaimer: I own KuroBasu... in my dreams. *lols to herself at the lame joke*

* * *

It's been a long time since she last stood here. Nothing much had changed really.

The carpeted floor was free of any dust; walls were hanged with exquisite paintings and certificates of sorts. There was the all too familiar awkward atmosphere that hung in the air and the same august presence on the opposite side of the large professional table that seemed to make the room too crammed despite the fact that there were only two of them.

A knot formed inside her stomach but she refused to acknowledge it. And she refused to be intimidated by the person she once respected and looked up to as a father.

"I've heard what happened on you first week," he started, his disappointment unspoken but clear as day to her. He just came back from his business trip. It was even a miracle that he asked his disgrace of a daughter's presence to be summoned as soon as his plane landed on the airport. She should have known it would just be another scold, not that she's asking for him to care for her or anything, but a simple 'How was your first day?' would have sufficed. "You got into trouble again."

He's not really looking at her and more engrossed in the paper works atop his table. It was irritating, but she's used to it.

"Tch. As if my well-being concerns you," she bit back as she crossed her arms, feeling rather bored standing while he was comfortably sitting in a leather swivel chair.

He snapped his gaze at her.

"Rin," he said her name like vile stuck in his throat. She hated it when he pronounced her given name. He made it sound like a sin. "You're my daughter."

"Oh, is that so?" she raised her eyebrow. "You should remind me more often."

"How dare you speak like that to me?" the man asked in a low voice.

Rin looked at him emotionlessly, the admiration and respect long gone from her eyes. "Look, I don't think this conversation is working out for either of us. I have things to do and it's obvious that you have, too. So let's stop dancing around and just get to the point. What do you want?"

His eyes sharpened into slits but Rin was way past folding every time he intimidated her so she met his eyes head on; black clashing with black for domination and neither was backing down. He gnashed his jaws, and then sighed. "Fine. I want you to meet up with someone. I've already set the time and place so all you had to do is show up and behave."

Rin caught herself when she almost choked with her own saliva. Almost. "You've got to be kidding. You mean you set me up on a date?" she asked after a burst of humorless laughter.

"Exactly." He didn't even flinch at the absurd way she said it.

"No." She flat out answered. She had enough of this conversation. "You can't just—"

"Enough! You will go through with this engagement,"he grounded out with finality, authority dripping from his tone. "I am your father, Rin—"

"What? No!" she cut him off with an angry snarl. Not this again. It's five years ago all over again. She took a deep calming breath and glared at him with no regards at his squared jaw. She won't let him; not again. "Let's just stop this. Let's pretend that we didn't have this conversation 'cause none of us are getting anything from it. We didn't meet; I didn't see you, you didn't see me. So I'll be leaving now."

She faced back and headed for the door. How she wanted to get out of that room.

"Young lady! Don't turn your back on me!"

"I can't but you can? How is that fair?" she sputtered, glaring back at the eyes that looked so much like her own. Drawing the saliva that had been making her mouth tacky since she'd entered the room, she spat it at his scarlet carpet. She could almost feel the cringe in his face at her behavior. She didn't care though. She just wanted to show him that she at least learnt something from all those years that she'd been a delinquent.

Smirking at the smudge she made at his carpet, she crossed her arms. "And if you had any more things to tell me, just send your assistant like you always do. It'll save you the inconvenience of talking to someone like me."

Saying that, she slammed the door close.

She knew this wasn't over. He always found ways to get what he wanted, by hook or by crook. He's a twisted man who destroyed enemy companies and sold the broken pieces to others as a job after all.

He's a business magnate. She had admired it once upon a time, how he could manipulate a conversation and turn it to his favor with just a word from his tongue. And she would never forget that there was actually a time that she had wished she would grow up like him.

She was an attention whore when she was a child, reason why she had tried to reach his and his wife's expectation too many times to count for the first ten years of her life. She was an achiever, a warrior, a prodigy. She excelled in everything she set her mind to. But everybody has a breaking point and he drove her to hers.

She realized that he wanted her to be a doll encased in glass and be sold out at the right price when the time has come. She's nothing but another business deal to him. Hell, he even had the nerve to set her up on an arranged marriage with one of his business partners' son before she was even born, and then nullify it just to arrange another when she turned eight for the sake of a few more coins.

Her own father. What kind of father would do that to his own daughter?

Then again, he's not exactly a conventional man.

* * *

Her father had taken to calling her personally three times a couple of days after their encounter. She should be glad he's finally giving her the attention that was fifteen years way overdue but she felt nothing in her heart but contempt and disgust. He'd been spouting threats about cutting her allowance, hiring her guards, and grounding her inside the barren, cold structure he called home for the rest of her life when she refused to concede at his attempts to intimidate her. Pathetic, really, such far lengths a man of power would sink just to get what he want.

He was even more pushy today. The old man might be expecting her to willingly answer her phone if he called enough times, reason why she put her phone on vibrate mode instead. She purposely left it on, just to piss him off more by letting him realize that she did receive his calls and was not answering any of it.

Maeda Rin smirked as she walked out of the darkness, a few cuts and angry bruises marking her arms concealed under her hoodie and her left little finger was dislocated. It hurt like a bitch but it was more than she could handle. She hissed when the bone clicked in place with a tug from her left hand, snapping the cartilage back where it belonged.

The stupid jerks were bothering her when all she wanted was to pass by. They were bullies and perverts; they should have known they were messing with the wrong girl. The ten or so conceited, territorial, egotistical punks were now lying face first on the snow with a few of their bones broken. Serves them right for underestimating a girl.

Using her left hand, she flipped her phone open and dialed an emergency line.

"This is the Tokyo Police Department. What can I do for you?"

"I saw a commotion at the alleyway five blocks east of Seirin High. Please, you need to send some help," Rin practiced the fake secretive, panicked whispering she'd always done whenever she faced a similar situation. Kami knows she'd been in enough times to know what to do. Those guys might be weaklings and evil incarnates but she knew that they don't deserve to wake up with frostbite numbing them and their injuries unattended, or if they woke up at all. That's a kind of end she wouldn't like for herself.

"Thank you for your notification, miss. We'll send our officers there immediately."

"Alright," she replied before hanging up. She couldn't risk them asking who she was.

She licked her broken lip and wiped the slight blood that spilled from the wound on her brow like everything was peachy, before trudging on to the nearest fast food chain which happened to be Maji Burger. Awesome, she thought. She loved Maji Burger.

Rin had not gone to school today. Reason? Because she felt like it. She faked a medical certificate using her awesome photoshop skills and sent it to the school. Good thing Seirin High ain't that thorough when dealing with excuses and Hyuga Junpei was too busy about his team's upcoming big match that he never noticed. Rin was careful to leave before he and his parents woke up and head straight to her room when she came back from her escapades. Not that she's avoiding them and her aunt and uncle were being neglectful, they just somehow trust Junpei's judgment when it came to her and refused to meddle with her life unless necessary. Her older cousin was actually more of her guardian than his parents were since the two adults knew she would never listen to them to save her life. And since he's too busy to babysit, well, as the old saying goes, "when the cat's away, the mouse comes out to play," or whatever it was.

Rin drew her hair tighter in its ponytail and slapped the caked dirt off her jeans after washing her face and hands inside the bathroom. Deeming herself a little bit more presentable, she pulled the hoodie up to slightly obscure her face and the obvious mess she looked, and then tried to look inconspicuous as she walked towards the counter. She ordered two large fries, ten burgers, a bottle of coke and three cups of chocolate ice cream—what? She's stressed; and it's called stress eating. Her frustration from three days prior was anything but gone even after she tried to beat it into other people's faces.

She paid her bill and sat at one of the corners of the restaurant to eat her meal. She was halfway done when someone cleared their throat. Rin looked up and found the intimidating red eyes of Kagami Taiga, a mountain of burgers on the tray he held. The hood seemed to have done its job perfectly because Split-brows didn't recognize her.

"Can we sit with you? The place is full," he said but sat down even before she could utter her permission. Rin raised an eyebrow when he waved at a tall blonde ordering in the counter.

"What the hell, Split-brows? I didn't agree to anything yet!" she spat, glaring at the redhead.

"Hanabi?"

She hissed at the nickname. The Seirin basketball ace had pinned the nickname to her when he got fed up with her calling him Split-brows whenever she came to watch them practice. He reasoned that it fit her personality quite perfectly and she honestly couldn't oppose that but what irked her to no end were the stares she got from the other team members whenever they hear the two of them exchanging glares and insults. Koganei was especially irritating and she didn't like at all how Mitobe's eyebrows danced whenever he watched the two of them clashing on a verbal war. Riko was strangely encouraging, Junpei-nii pretended not to see, and Kiyoshi just laughed it off. They were annoying.

Damn, she might be violent but she's not naïve. She knew what was going on inside their brains but Split-brows' shallow mind seemed to evade the hint so he kept on calling her that. What an idiot. She refused to give him an edge though so she retaliated by baptizing him as Split-brows in her vocabulary, the other members be damned.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with an eye twitch.

Rin crossed her arms over her chest. "Eating. What do you expect? This place is a freaking fast food chain, dum-dum."

Anther eye twitch. "That's it. I'm changing—"

"Taiga, who's your friend?"

Rin's eyes shifted to a blonde American woman with the most beautiful sea green eyes under her pink-rimmed glasses. Her head was tilted to the side as she sized up Rin, one of her hand on her hips while the other held her tray. Split-brows grumbled before moving to a seat further in the table to give way to the woman.

"She's not my friend," he said under gritted teeth which earned him a smack behind his head, courtesy of his companion. Rin found amusement when his head thumped against the metal table, right beside his burger mountain. She decided then and there that she liked this woman. "Damn it, Alex! What the heck was that for?"

"For being an asshole!" the blonde retorted back, and then smiled at Rin. "Hi! Sorry about that. My name is Alexander Garcia but you can call me Alex."

"I'm Maeda Rin. Nice to meet you, Alex," she replied in a roughly accented English.

"You're a girl," Alex said, taken aback. She glanced at Split-brows who muttered something along the lines of 'I thought so too' sarcastically between munches. "Do you know each other?" she asked, gesturing at her and the red-head.

"Unfortunately," Rin answered for the two of them. "He's my classmate for three periods. And my detention buddy," she added with a wry smirk.

"That was one time, Hanabi. One freaking time."

"Hanabi?"

Rin wrinkled her nose before gulping a scoop of ice cream. "My name's Maeda Rin, Split-brows. Get that through your thick head."

"And I'm Kagami Taiga, you dumbass. Now who's thicker between the two of us?"

Touché.

"Whatever," she waved dismissively before popping a handful of fries inside her mouth. She cursed when the salty food grazed her busted lip.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked with concern.

Rin started when Kagami leaned on the table and reached for her hoodie. She paused at the horrified and concerned looks she received from the gaping duo when they finally got a closer look at her face. A spot on her forehead was surely starting to turn violet-ish, the small cut at the edge of her forehead had stopped bleeding but it still stung every now and then. Her jaw was bruised and her left inner cheek was bleeding. Rin moistened her lips nervously and winced when her tongue accidentally brushed her busted lip.

"I'm fine," she waved dismissively again before gobbling up her ice cream. Time for a strategic exit. Thankfully, her phone vibrated repeatedly; she got a call from someone. She'd award a cookie to someone who could guess who it was. "Oh, look! I gotta take this." She grabbed her phone as emphasis before pulling the hoodie back up her head. "And I'm really sorry Alex, but I guess I'm heading home after this. I hope we'll see each other again. Bye, Split-brows!" And she hightailed out of the place after bowing at the American woman and she along with Taiga couldn't do anything as the watched the hooded girl ran out of the restaurant.

Run hoped the circumstances were different, she wished that she could've stayed on that chair to bicker with the fiery red-head and chat with her new acquaintance. Things never went in her favor, and with the kind of life she chose to lead, it was kind of expected.

Mentally shrugging of her lame self-pity party, Rin chanced a glance at the name flashing on the screen of her phone and felt her mood plummet even further. Cold winter breeze whistled as it passed along the street, making the fringes hanging in front of her face dance and the crunches made by her shoes be momentarily shrouded. Rin contemplated her choices. Should she answer it or throw it at the nearby wall and completely stop her father's annoying attempts to threaten her into attending that stupid Omiai? Then again, maybe she could answer it, say something incredibly juvenile, and smash the phone on the wall anyway. She inwardly cackled at her idea. She could almost imagine his frown lines dipping significantly and the tick marks that would comically appear on his temples.

"Maeda-san."

Rin forgot to stop herself and screamed bloody murder when a certain blue-haired phantom materialized in front of her vision. This earned quite a few looks from the other pedestrians and she felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. However, when her head finally registered the events, it was quickly replaced by exasperation. Yup, she's not that angry anymore whenever Kuroko just appears out of nowhere.

"You should stop doing that, Kuroko," she chided with a roll of her eyes. "One of this days, I'm more than sure one or another will get a heart attack."

"Hello, Maeda-san," he greeted in his usual monotonous Kuroko way, ignoring everything she said.

If she was herself two months ago, she might have pummeled him to death on the spot. Or maybe just jabbed his ribs or something. She doubt she'll critically hurt someone as lanky as this kid anyway.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, genuinely curious. She scanned him from head to toe, searching for his cute doppelganger dog. You know, just in case he hid it from the cold inside his clothes again like when they first met. "Where's Nigou?"

Rin felt a sense of déjà vu when his eyes trailed down the half-empty plastic cup of vanilla milkshake with the Maji Burger logo on its side held by his right hand that she had apparently failed to see to answer her first question.

"Aa," she let out dumbly. Odd, she was pretty sure she hadn't seen him inside the restaurant and Kagami said that it was already full. She mentally shook her head. Who's she kidding? This was Kuroko she's talking about; of course he'd go unnoticed.

Her second question was left unanswered when he reached out his hand and presented her a white handkerchief. She raised an eyebrow at this.

"You're hurt," he stated, his face still emotionless.

"I'm fine," she replied but she grabbed the hanky either way. She cautiously dabbed it on the stinging cut at her eyebrow then at her lip as she threw a look at her now still phone. She scoffed. Her father was never known for his extensive patience; it was never his strongest suit but she would bet her life that he's far from giving up. If there's something that matters most to him, it was his pride. He would not risk his dignity by canceling the Omiai, not when it would damage his precious pride.

"What's wrong, Maeda-san?" Kuroko asked with a tilt of his head.

Her lips quirked upwards at his concern. She would never admit it out loud but she was glad she didn't choose to take the homeschooling thing. Not just because it would limit her freedom and prevent her from her usual escapades but also because she got to meet new friends. Yes, for the first time in a very long while, she finally found people she could call her friends in the form of the Seirin Basketball Club. And she wished she could be a part of them even if she had to put a stop to fighting.

It was a very strange thought, her willing to give up her dangerous delinquent activities just to be accepted. Just to fit in. It had never mattered to her before. As long as everyone around her left her alone and didn't get on her bad side she was quite tolerable but she could care less about their opinion of her. Somehow, it was different with Seirin. Sure, some of them weren't so forthcoming when it came to her and the three freshmen were just afraid of pissing her off to form an unbiased opinion of her but she knew that she would always be welcomed inside their rowdy circle. They were quirky, weird, and diverse personality-wise but they had each other's backs and treated each other like family. Something she'd always longed to have even when she was just a child.

"N-nothing," her voice cracked. She was just so emotionally exhausted.

"You should go to a hospital," he suggested, his brows slightly furrowing.

"I'm fine, Kuroko," she insisted. She was about to say something aggressive when her phone vibrated again. She gave the boy an apologetic look before decidedly flipping it open. "What?" she asked very impolitely at the speaker.

"Don't use that tone on me, Rin," her father grounded out from the other side of the line. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the mention of her name from his lips.

"Oh, what? You just called to lecture me?" she sardonically replied. She glanced at Kuroko and made a face at him. He merely raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you dare start, young lady," he warned. She could almost feel the venom dripping from his voice. "I told you that resisting this engagement is futile. You will go to that dinner and face your betrothed or else - "

"Or else what?" she mocked him, "you'll pull me on your knees and spank me like a four year old? Don't make me la - "

"I've heard you're quite settled in your new school, my daughter." It was like a spit at her face; he was taunting her. "What was it called, Seirin Private High School? I've heard it was such a young pristine institution. Such financially unstable place."

Ring's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, but I would. You knew better than to defy me, Rin. I am your father."

When she didn't bother for a snide remark, the man continued, "I shall send a few people a day after tomorrow. I know how incompetent you are in behaving like a lady of your stature or looking remotely close to one. A disgrace for the Maeda bloodline. Do fail to disappoint me, Rin." And he hung up.

Minutes after the conversation had ended, Rin still stared at the contraption on her hand like it was something from outer space. She was shocked. He had threatened to target her school. He had threatened to take a place she'd grown attached to. She knew more than anyone that he would make good on that threat if she still insist her side and refuse to attend that stupid date. That vile, evil man would stop at nothing to get whatever he want. He's so appalling.

"Maeda-san," she heard Kuroko's impassive voice call out to her but she was not listening.

The hand that held the phone shook. The intensity of her grip increased.

If she hadn't become attached. If she had not made friends, would it still matter? Back on her previous schools, she wouldn't bat an eye even if it was suddenly declared to close down or if that institution was to be demolished. She wouldn't care even when they shunned her; she would bare her teeth and snarl at them, cursing them till kingdom come but still, she would go on with her life as if nothing had happened.

However, the thought of making Seirin High miserable because of her made heart twinge guiltily, if not really ashamed. What would Junpei-nii say if he ever found out? What will happen to the Basketball Club? They were doing an awesome job this Winter Cup and she would hate to take them away from something they loved to do. And their next match would be the day after tomorrow, exactly the same date as her dinner with the stranger.

"Maeda-san." Kuroko was still trying to get her attention but Rin was too far gone in her thoughts.

She was berating herself for being weak, for showing emotions. She should have known he'll target her right where he knew he'll get a reaction. It's all their fault. They shouldn't have welcomed her. They should have kicked her out of the school more than a month ago.

Rin took a deep breath to calm herself. She reminded her self no to bite her inner cheek or her lips before pocketing her phone.

"You are upset," Kuroko said when she finally looked at him. It was nothing but a obvious statement but it irked Rin. Maybe it's the way he said it, or the way he kept unnerving her with his ever emotionless stare. It wasn't cold, his stare, just that, emotionless if not a bit comforting.

"I'm fine," she said for the nth time this evening. She looked directly in his eyes and made up her mind. She held out the bloodied soft cloth to him, feeling embarrassed that she had soiled his handkerchief although he was the one who offered. Kuroko took her hand in his and closed her palm on the folded handkerchief.

"You can keep it," he said. The corners of his lips slightly turned up, a very miniscule change from his usual facade but Rin burned it into her memory, a smile taking over her own lips.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. Her eyes wandered around. "It's getting late."

"I see. Do you want me to walk you home, Maeda-san?"

She smirked at that. "I think I can take care of myself, but thanks for the offer anyway," she haughtily answered. He blinked obliviously at her snide at his physical prowess. She inwardly chuckled. "Well, see you later, Kuroko."

"Hai."

With that, she continued her way back to the Hyuga household, the plain white cloth clutched inside her palm as if her life depended on it. She had made her decision and bar the moment she stood up to her father and packed her things, she felt like it was the best decision she would ever make.

It was a small sacrifice she was willing to give. Besides, she's a delinquent; there's nothing she couldn't handle.

* * *

A/N: Again, I apologize for the late update. I know I stated that this chapter was supposed to be about Seirin against Yosen but I'm trying to pick up the story. Like I said, I forgot this story's plot ssince i don't usually write things down. I want to develop the OC's character first and get a general gist of where I originally want this to go about less than a year ago. Regardless, I really appreciate that you read this story. Thank you. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. I would be heaps grateful!


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